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Science 24 October 2003:
Vol. 302. no. 5645, pp. 634 - 636
DOI: 10.1126/science.1089402
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Reports

Kin Discrimination and the Benefit of Helping in Cooperatively Breeding Vertebrates

Ashleigh S. Griffin* and Stuart A. West

In many cooperatively breeding vertebrates, a dominant breeding pair is assisted in offspring care by nonbreeding helpers. A leading explanation for this altruistic behavior is Hamilton's idea that helpers gain indirect fitness benefits by rearing relatives (kin selection). Many studies have shown that helpers typically provide care for relatives, but relatively few have shown that helpers provide closer kin with preferential care (kin discrimination), fueling the suggestion that kin selection only poorly accounts for the evolution of cooperative breeding in vertebrates. We used meta-analysis to show that (i) individuals consistently discriminate between kin, and (ii) stronger discrimination occurs in species where the benefits of helping are greater. These results suggest a general role for kin selection and that the relative importance of kin selection varies across species, as predicted by Hamilton's rule.

Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: a.griffin{at}ed.ac.uk

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